Robert Boulin case: cold-case unit seized, three judges to reopen investigation
Forty-seven years after the death of former minister Robert Boulin, found in a pond in Rambouillet forest in 1979, the cold-case unit in Nanterre has reopened the investigation. Three judges will examine this case, classified as suicide but contested by the family.
Robert Boulin case: cold-case unit seized, three judges to reopen investigation
The Robert Boulin case is experiencing a new development. Forty-seven years after the death of the former Labour Minister under the presidency of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the cold-case unit of the judicial tribunal of Nanterre has been seized. Three magistrates will now re-examine this file, which has fuelled speculation for decades about a possible staging.
Robert Boulin's body had been discovered on 30 October 1979 in a pond in Rambouillet forest, in the Yvelines. The autopsy concluded death by drowning, with the presence of barbiturates in the body. The official theory of suicide had been retained by investigators of the time. Yet the family of the politician has always contested this version, denouncing a political assassination intended to silence an inconvenient witness.
Robert Boulin was at the centre of a property matter in Ramatuelle, in the Var, involving suspect transactions on land. He was also said to be on the point of revealing compromising information about other political figures of the period.
The decision to reopen investigations comes after multiple requests from the family and its lawyers. The three investigating judges reopening the case will have to examine all the evidence and decide whether further expert reports or hearings are necessary to shed full light on the real circumstances of this death.
Source: franceinfo
Source: France Info